ABOUT

Born in Poland, Ania Vu (née Vu Dang Minh Anh) is pursuing a Ph.D. in composition as a Benjamin Franklin Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Her recent music explores varied notions of time, musical energy related to form, and wordplay in vocal music set to her own Polish text. Her current mentors include Marcos Balter , James Primosch , and Anna Weesner. In 2017, she received her BM in both Composition and Theory from the Eastman School of Music.

Ania is a recipient of an Honorable Mention and a two-time finalist of the ASCAP Morton Gould Competition Young Composers Awards. Also a finalist of the 2019 Kaleidoscope Call for Scores, she has received the Belle Gitleman, Bernard Rodgers, and Louis Lane awards from Eastman. Performers of her music include the MIVOS Quartet, Daedalus Quartet , TAK ensemble , International Contemporary Ensemble , and the Iridium Saxophone Quartet. Her music has been featured at festivals such as the Valencia International Performance Academy (VIPA) in Spain, Red Note New Music Festival in Illinois State University, SoundSCAPE in Cesena, Italy, and Women in Music in Rochester.

For more information about her piano background, performances and teaching, please scroll down to Performance.

Outside of music, Ania has a passion for languages, and speaks fluent English, Polish, French, and Vietnamese, in addition to having studied Latin and German. She also enjoys traveling - having visited 30 countries so far -, wandering in all kinds of museums, and ballroom dancing.

(Résumé) updated in 11/2019.

WORKS

ORCHESTRA | SOLO, SMALL ENSEMBLE | ELECTRONIC | EARLIER WORKS

ORCHESTRA/LARGE ENSEMBLE

Symphonic Suite for Orchestra [2018]
Read by the Curtis Orchestra. April 2018
Duration: 7’
[Score PDF]

Fantasia for Orchestra [2017]
Read by the Eastman Philharmonia. May 2017
Duration: 8’

Dark Whims for Piano, arranged for Wind Ensemble [2015]
Read by the Eastman Wind Ensemble. April 2015
Duration: 3’


SOLO, SMALL ENSEMBLE

I yearn, therefore I am for String Quartet [2019]
Commissioned by the Daedalus Quartet as part of its "Music & Migration" concert season. Premiered at the Kelly Writers' House, University of Pennsylvania. November 2019
Duration: ca. 12'

String Quartet no. 2 [2019]
Premiered by the MIVOS Quartet at the Valencia International Performance Academy (VIPA). July 2019
Duration: ca. 7'30

Tik-Tak for Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Percussion [2019]
Premiered by the TAK ensemble at the University of Pennsylvania. March 2019
Duration: ca. 5'
[Score PDF] [SoundCloud]

Dragonflies for Saxophone Quartet [2018-19]
Premiered by the Iridium Quartet at the Red Note New Music Festival , Illinois State University. February 2019
Duration: ca. 8'30
[Score PDF] [SoundCloud]

Gra dźwięków, gra słów (Soundplay, wordplay) for Female Voice, Percussion, and Piano [2018]
1. Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami
2. Płakała Zapałka – text by Ania Vu
3. a może... – text by Ania Vu
The whole set premiered at the Penn Sound Collective. University of Pennsylvania. December 2018.
a może premiered at the SoundSCAPE Festival. Cesena, Italy. July 2018.
Duration: 19’
[Score PDF] [ SoundCloud]

Five in One for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano [2018]
Premiered by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) at the Penn Sound Collective concert of graduate composers. University of Pennsylvania. April 2018
Duration: ca. 12’
[Score PDF] [ YouTube ] [SoundCloud]

Against Time for solo Piano [2018]
Premiered at the Penn Sound Collective concert of graduate composers. University of Pennsylvania. April 2018
Duration: 7’20
[Score PDF] [YouTube] [SoundCloud]

String Quartet no. 1, four movements [2016]
Performed at Hatch Hall, Eastman School of Music, May 2017
Premiered at the Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music. April 2016
Duration: ca. 17’
[Score PDF] [YouTube] [SoundCloud]

Mrs. and Mr. Potato Head for Flute and Bassoon [2015]
Commissioned by the Museum of Play in Rochester, NY
Premiered at the Museum of Play, Rochester. November 2015
Duration: ca. 5’

Espace for solo Piano [2015]
Duration: 6’

Paroles du Chagrin for Soprano and Piano [2014]
1. Je suis comme je suis – Jacques Prévert
2. Déjeuner du matin – Jacques Prévert
3. Il pleure dans mon cœur – Paul Verlaine
4. Le ciel est par-dessus le toit – Paul Verlaine
Performed at Hatch Hall, Eastman School of Music. May 2017
Premiered at Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music. November 2014
Duration: 14’
[Score PDF] [YouTube] [SoundCloud]

Dark Whims for solo Piano [2014]
Performed at Hatch Hall, Eastman School of Music. May 2017
Performed at the Women Music Festival at Eastman School of Music. March 2016
Duration: 3’
[Score PDF] [YouTube] [SoundCloud]


ELECTRONIC

Raindrops for Fixed Media [2016]


EARLIER WORKS (before 2013)

Somewhere over the Clouds for Saxophone Soprano and Piano [2013]
Performed at the Theater in Johannesburg, May 2015
Premiered at the Hanoi Opera House, December 2013
Duration: 4’45”
[YouTube]

Variations based on Pentatonic Scales for solo Piano [2012]
Duration: 6’30”
[YouTube]

PIANIST


Aside from being a composer, Ania is an active pianist and educator. She performs solo and chamber music, standard and contemporary repertoire, and works of her own and of her colleagues. Her piano teachers include Amy Yang, Vincent Lenti, Irina Rumiancewa-Dabrowski and her mother Hong Anh Dang. She has taken lessons and masterclasses with artists such as Dang Thai Son, Wojciech Świtała, Thomas Rosenkranz, Andrzej Jasiński, Philippe Giusiano, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. As pianist, she has won several awards in national and international competitions in Europe, and has performed in the United States, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Vietnam, and Poland.

In the spring of 2019, Ania and soprano Paulina Swierczek were invited by the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies to perform a program of Polish music at the University of Rochester. Ania played solo during the first half, and was joined by Paulina on the second. The concert featured works by Chopin, Szymanowski, Lutosławski, Moniuszko, Bacewicz, Palej, and three works of Ania’s. In May 2019, she received a full scholarship to be part of Curtis Summerfest’s “Chamber Music for Adults”, where she performed Kurtag’s trio Hommage à R. Schumann . The trio was coached by Amy Yang, David Hayes, Mimi Stillman, and Hanchien Lee.

Ania draws great satisfaction from being a music educator, teaching piano and music theory. She maintains a piano studio of students of all ages and various skill levels. At the University of Pennsylvania, she has taught an introductory course to music theory and musicianship, and an intermediate-level ear training and keyboard skills lab. In June 2015, she participated in a program where selected musicians traveled to Zimbabwe and South Africa to perform and teach piano.

Grażyna Bacewicz - Toccata from Sonata no. 2
[ YouTube]

J. S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue in F Major, Book II
[ YouTube]

F. Chopin - Barcarolle op. 60
[YouTube]

Justin Jaramillo - Proud Maisie
[SoundCloud]

Ania Vu - Dark Whims
[YouTube] [SoundCloud]

EVENTS



2020

4/18/20, 7:30PM
Premiere of a new piece by SO percussion at the Annenberg Center, Univeristy of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

4/3/20, time TBD
Performance of Five in One by a student ensemble at the 2020 International New Music Festival at USF. Univeristy of South Florida, FL

3/7/20, time TBD
Ania performs her piano pieces Against Time and Dark Whims , and Joshua Hey's afterimage at the 2020 CMS Northeast Conference at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

1/25/20, 7:30PM
Performance of Against Time at the HfKM-Regensburg Days of New Music 2020. (Against Time was selected as one of the seven pieces from the Call for Scores HfKM-Regensburg Days of New Music 2020 out of over 300 works). Konzertsaal der HfKM Regensburg, Germany


2019

12/6/19, 8PM
Penn Sound Collective . Full premiere of I yearn, therefore I am by the Daedalus Quartet . Ania also performs Groundwater by Flannery Cunningham and afterimage by Joshua Hey. Rose Recital Hall, University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA

11/15/19, 12PM
Premiere of I yearn, therefore I am by the Daedalus Quartet. Kelly Writers' House, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

11/2/19, 1PM
Ania performs Against Time at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, PA

7/11/19, 7:30PM
Premiere of String Quartet no.2 by the Mivos Quartet at La Mutant, Valencia, Spain

5/19/19, 1PM
Ania performs Kurtag's "Hommage à R. Schumann" in a trio at Curtis Summerfest. Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA

4/5/19, 7:30PM
An Evening of Polish Music - Ania and soprano Paulina Swierczek perform works by Chopin, Lutoslawski, Szymanowski, and Ania, among others. Event hosted by the Skalny Center . Interfaith Chapel, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

3/16/19, 8PM
Penn Sound Collective - Premiere of Tik-tak by TAK ensemble . Arch Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

2/13/19, 7:30PM
Premiere of Dragonflies by Iridium Saxophone Quartet at the Red Note New Music Workshop , Illinois State University, Normal, IL

CONTACT


For more information or inquiries about scores, commissions, or taking lessons, please don’t hesitate to contact me at ania.vu94♪gmail.com (after replacing ♪ with @).